Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Ember Queen

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Ember Queen by Laura Sebastian

4 reviews

rinku's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Ember Queen is the final novel of the Ash Princess series and sadly has the same weaknesses that the previous novel had: It’s quite slow and Theo acts more stupid than before. I furthermore had some issues with the ending itself which is why I think that this is the worst novel in the series.

Again, the first 25% of the novel are just spend with our characters planning what they should do next. Soren is again kidnapped, this time by Cress. It’s just so tiring how he’s always in danger and needs rescue. I barely cared for the plot and all and was honestly more interested in who Theo will end up with lmao, even though the romance is definitely not the focus of the story. I had the feeling that this book was in general more character driven this time, which was a bit more boring, to be honest.

The book got only more exciting when

Soren and Eric are back and the poison Velastra is introduced, acting as a true threat

. Sadly, the villains had so much potential but felt flat in the end. I also dislike how it’s implied that the absent mother is partly at fault for Cress’ development. The finale has its dramatic moment with

Blaise dying

but the fact that

Cress again kidnaps someone to pressure Theo

, was annoying. What I dislike about the ending the most is that the status quo is basically not changing:

I mean, Theo becomes the queen and doesn’t decide to change something about the system. Who guarantees that her or her descendants won’t turn into tyrants one day? She even talks about executing the enemies at the end which is not really what a good queen would do, in my opinion

This time, I was in some moments really annoyed by Theo because her actions were not well enough explained. For example, in the first two novels she says that she doesn’t want to use her magic under no circumstances but now she’s suddenly using it without much reflection. In other moments, she was just acting stupid, like when she

revealed who she is in front of this Lord, Ovelgand was his name, I think. I also didn’t understand why she didn’t just kill Cress in her dreams but had to wait for a big battle instead

. Another character that really annoyed me was Blaise with always wanting to protect Theo. Besides those two though, I really liked our main squad that was queerer than I expected. Artemisia is my favorite character, and I was so happy that we learn in this novel that she’s aro-ace.

The Ash Princess series delivered what I’ve expected from a YA high fantasy series – nothing more and nothing less. The best things about it are the world and the cast which includes many interesting female characters. Sadly, the plot and especially the pacing is lacking so that they’re many moments that are just too long and even pointless. Maybe two books would’ve been better? In my opinion, book two and three could’ve been put into one book. The ending itself was a bit disappointing and the story lacked some depth overall, but I was still entertained by the series.

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m_r3ads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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savanhahope's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

What a great ending to an amazing series! When I started the first book, I never imagined that I'd love this series as much as I do! This might put me in a reading slump!

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queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

3.5 ⭐ CW: violence, torture, slavery, descriptions of blood and gore, rape mention, suicide, brief sexual situation

Ember Queen by Laura Sebastian is the last book in the Ash Princess series. Honestly, this book fell a little bit flat for me, and felt a bit predictable.

We pick up with Theo existing the Fire Mine, and it turns out it amplified her fire powers. She's stronger than the fire Guardians, but remembers nothing from the mine. Over time pieces of it come back to her, and she realizes she must have passed tests of some sort.

We still have a bit of a love triangle, but luckily for everyone's sake, Blaise and Theo realize they love each other, just not romantically. Speaking of which, Artemisia is definitely aspec, Aromantic at the very least, but she does get a little bit of sapphic action (alloaro maybe?). I loved Heron and Erik's relationship in this one, I'm a sucker for banter.

Cress is straight up crazy in this book, now that she's been scarred by the Encatrio. Her fire power seems to be stronger, but more unstable than Theo's. She is now trying to recruit other women to take the Encatrio to see if any survive to join her in taking down the patriarchy. Although Cress's goal of dismantling the patriarchy is understandable, she goes about it in ways only an oppressor can think to do it. I found Cress to be a commentary on "White feminism" or selective feminism.

I felt like the plot of this book was very predictable, and I felt there were only a couple of scenes that were somewhat exciting. I just expected more bang for the last book of a trilogy. It was nice reading a series where the oppressed actually get the justice they have been fighting for.

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